Originally our lockdown was only to go until mid April, then it was extended until the first of May, and a few days before that, it was extended yet again, to mid May. At the end of April, we were feeling a bit discouraged and so I asked the family, "If you could go anywhere, where would it be...it can be anywhere."
Unanimously, everyone said DISNEY!
So, we decided to take the next Saturday and go to Disney...all the Disneys we wanted to go to and do all the rides we wanted to do and eat all the treats we wanted to eat.
It was fabulous!
Sissi got busy online and set up a Google doc where we planned out our day and got everyone's input on what they wanted to do and where they wanted to go. She included hyper links to YouTube videos that we found for the rides we wanted to experience.
I got busy in the kitchen. I found some great recipes for all the special Disney treats. These were our Mickey Head Pretzels, with sourdough, so soft and wonderful.
Once they were baked and puffed up a bit.
Almost as big as her head!
I had some odd leftover dough pieces and so made a few leftover pretzels, that were of a more simple design.
At one of our local magazines we found the cheese sauce for dipping our pretzels. Perfect!
I made the amazing mac and cheese from Disneyland Paris. And, just to clarify, those aren't worms on half, they are caramelized onions. Gwangi is not a fan of onions, so I kept half clear of them.
We also made churros. I didn't have a very big tip, so they were small, but super tasty and very easy to make.
Yummy churros.
For breakfast, we had Mickey Head Pancakes...with mini chocolate chips!
They turned out great.
We got to see two different fireworks shows, this one was in Disneyland Paris.
Our travels with the Welton Crew back in 2018 to Disneyland Paris were a precious memory and so we invited them along for our virtual day!
Our Disneyland Paris map, saved from our recent trip.
Turns out we all saved some maps, so we were able to pull those out as we planned our rides. We also got out our lanyards to reminisce.
The kids, talking over their pins and deciding if they want to trade or not.
The kids' lanyards.
Snack time...loved our pretzels.
Sissi found still photos for each of the castles so we could take our family selfie at each of our location stops.
We got to experience some cool new rides at locations we've never been.
The Pirates ride in Shanghai was very cool.
And, of course, TRON!
Journey to the Center of the Earth is a family favorite movie, so going on the ride was super fun.
Lunch, we ordered pizza for delivery and I made nachos.
Oh, Vera, trying to lick Sissi's fingers and get some of that pizza tastiness.
Lunch time break out on the back patio.
Going thru some old scrapbooks. This one was from our trip in December of '13. It was the last time we visited with my parents and before my mom passed away. Sissi was excited to remember that we had the picture of her and grandma together, on the night we saw the Osborne Christmas Lights, before the show ended.
This album is from our trip in March of '17. She recreated this picture of herself with the Mickey Head Pretzel above. Fun memories!
One of her best pin trading days ever. She found several wonderful cast members at Animal Kingdom that had some Oswald pins and they were more than happy to trade her for them.
Enjoying their Mickey Lollipops that they had saved from our trip in March of '17 and I think also from our August of '19 trip.
*I should make a caveat here, when you say, "How can they afford to go to Disney so often?" that Indy is retired USAF and so we can continue to use our military benefits and visit Disney, even overseas, at a 50% discount. It is significant, to be sure. I will also link you to a previous blog post I've done about how we prioritize and save so that we can make family memories and travel happen.
Another fun new ride to experience...Star Wars' Rise of the Resistance.
Another family selfie.
Snack time...churros with chocolate dipping sauce.
We also made Dole Pineapple Whips. You can see that in the pink cup in the picture below.
Dinner was mac and cheese and burgers from Cosmic Rays. I went bunless on my burger, just putting on the cheese, mayo, ketchup, and avocado chunks.
We had never experienced this ride either...the Avatar ride in Animal Kingdom.
Can't help but share all of our fun family castle selfies with you.
A lesson in compare and contrast...the new Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway...
and, the old, classic, Great Movie Ride.
You can't end a day at Disney without a fireworks presentation!
It was a full and exhausting day, but we loved it and were so happy to have along the Weltons in Paris and the VanBriggles in Orlando. Thanks friends and I hope you can plan and enjoy a special virtual trip day with your family...whether it is Disney or wherever, it's a blast.
Stay tuned, we're hoping to do another virtual trip this summer.
